No reference is truly direct—every reference depends on some kind of coding scheme. It's just a question of how implicit it is. - Douglas Hofstadter

This idea that there is generality in the specific is of far-reaching importance.

No, no - I think about thinking

No one knows where the borderline between non-intelligent behavior and intelligent
behavior lies; in fact, to suggest that a sharp borderline exists is probably silly. But
essential abilities for intelligence are certainly:
to respond to situations very flexibly;
to take advantage of fortuitous circumstances;
to make sense out of ambiguous or contradictory messages;
to recognize the relative importance of different elements of a
situation;
to find similarities between situations despite differences which may separate them;
to draw distinctions between situations despite similarities may link them;
to synthesize new concepts by taking old them together in new ways; to come up
with ideas which are novel.